16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Amelia
Let me guess, the woman in the expensive red dress, high heels, and black sunglasses is the real Fox. She looks to be in her late forties, though it appears Botox has done its best to prevent aging. She slips her glasses up onto her head, and it’s the expression in her eyes that scares me the most. It’s like she could eat me for dessert.
We’re screwed.
The woman stomps over to me with a chilling laugh and ringed with enough bodyguards to be considered a small army. “ You were trying to be me , girl?” Her voice is deep and thick, so unlike mine.
How on earth did they fall for my act? It’s a miracle we made it out of there alive. If only we could have made it to the car. I hold my shoulders high, determined to get us out of this mess once and for all.
“This old get-up?” I gesture to my clothes. “Could be anyone.”
She tugs on my wig, and it falls to the side.
“Hey, I didn’t pull on your wig.” I glare at her.
Fox laughs. “I like this one.” Then her eyes slide to my side. “Thane?”
“Vivian, beautiful as always.”
Hold up. Thane just called her Vivian, not Fox.
They were…together.
Caleb tenses beside me, clearly coming to the same conclusion.
“Here to steal from me again, Thane?” Fox sneers, stepping in front of him. She raises her hand to his chest, tip-toeing her manicured fingers up to settle them around his neck. There’s tension, and then there’s whatever is happening beside me. A bomb could go off between these two, but whether out of hatred or passion I’m not sure.
“This feels like a good time to sneak out,” I whisper to Caleb, inching closer to his safety.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Fox barks, looking at me, but clenching the hand around Thane’s neck. “You have my drive.”
I scrunch up my brows, playing my underdeveloped acting skills for all they are worth. “What drive?”
“We’ve got a live one, Frank.” She motions to one of her frighteningly large bodyguards.
“I have it,” Caleb says.
Fox’s eyes whip to him and light up a fraction. “Oh, I do love a devoted boy toy. Let’s have it then.”
“I have it,” Thane says. It surprises me that he’d enter himself into this dangerous game. Maybe he can change.
Fox’s smile drops the tiniest bit. “Well, this game got old real quick. Hand over the Framework now before Frank puts a bullet in one of you. I don’t care which.”
A gun cocks and I stiffen. Caleb slips a hand around my back.
“Who has it?” Fox snarls.
I’m content to let Thane prove himself to his son, so I keep my mouth shut, but I’m overly aware of the small drive tucked in my bra, and I’ve never been a good liar, so I’m pretty sure my burning face is giving me away.
“You,” Fox snaps at me.
I have only one chance to get this right. Maybe I can distract her, then throw my purse at her face, giving Caleb just enough time to take her down before we are murdered. If I could telepathically communicate this plan with Caleb, it would probably work better, but hopefully, he can fill in the blanks. I look at him, repeating the words in my head until I’m sure he understands. You go high, I go low.
He nods almost imperceptibly.
I drop my gaze to Fox’s heels and furrow my brows. “Your sock is untied.”
Her left eyebrow twitches, but her eyes don’t move from my face. And then the gun is aimed at me.
So much for catching her off guard.
“Stop. Playing. Games,” she hisses.
“But life really is too short and it’s a shame,” I say.
“Last chance.”
I purse my lips. “I feel like you’re serious.”
“Dead.”
“I could have it.” I lift a shoulder like I don’t care. “If I do, it’s because I was hired to retrieve it.”
Fox laughs, hysterically. It injures my pride a bit. “You really expect me to believe someone hired you to retrieve the Framework?”
I shrug again, but the effort is more forced this time. “You can ask him yourself if you’d like. He’s right behind you.”
Fox and her henchmen all look toward the door, and I sweep her leg.
Fox loses her balance, but is caught by one of her men.
"You were supposed to go high!" I yell at Caleb as men rush us from all sides.
"You never told me that." Caleb pushes me behind him, his fists up, ready for a fight.
"I was talking to you with my eyes!"
"I thought we were saying I love you!"
I guess I can forgive him for that one. Two men swing at Caleb but he dodges both, causing them to hit each other. Then he pops up, punching them both.
Something lands in the middle of the chaotic room with a ‘tink' but no one notices. Until smoke encapsulates the lobby.
A gun goes off and Caleb shoves me to the ground, dropping his body over mine. More gunfire and a scream. The sound of footsteps and thuds.
For ten seconds I wait for my vision to clear, for things to make sense again. But the only thing I can successfully think of is the man on top of me, protecting me with his life.
“How dare you sacrifice yourself to protect me." My words come out strained with emotion.
“Always,” he whispers, brushing stray hairs out of my face. There are tears in his eyes, and in mine too.
“In case I never get to say it again, I love you.”
He grins. “Good thing it’s over then, because I plan on hearing that forever.” He hops up, pulling me with him. Somehow, in under fifteen seconds, Serena and the other FBI agents with her gained control of the situation.
Serena has Fox by the hair, which is surprisingly not a wig, and a knee in her back. The other agents have surrounded the bodyguards. Out of the elevator emerge more agents, along with the bad guys from upstairs and a spitting Katerina.
“You just can't stay out of trouble, can you?” Serena says to me.
“I think the words you are looking for are, thank you .”
She shakes her head, but despite how I annoy her, I can see the humor in her eyes. “For what, exactly?"
“I took her off guard. I pretty much set the scene perfectly for you to barge in like that. Though if you'd given me a few more minutes I'm sure I could have done that as well." I bite back a smile.
“You're truly one of a kind." She chuckles and turns her attention back to getting Fox off the floor.
She's warming to me.
I glance to the right, “Uh, Caleb. Where’s your dad?”
He glares at the empty space. “Doing what he does best, disappearing.”
“I’m sorry.” I shake my head.
He grabs both of my cheeks. “Don’t be. You just wanted me to have a family, but sweetheart, I already do. It’s you. Connor and Maddi—”
“Oh no, Maddie!” I break out of Caleb’s arms and sprint out of the building with him on my heels. I race around the back and find Maddie…and “Connor?” I breathe.
Connor lets go of the death grip he has on Maddie to pull me into the hug. “I can’t believe you got yourself in danger again,” he groans.
“Really? Because I don’t find it all that unlikely.”
“No more.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Connor’s eyes flick to Caleb over my shoulder. “Do we need to have another talk, man?”
Another talk? When did they have the first one?
“Believe me, I’m doing my best.” Caleb chuckles, pulling me into his arms. “But this woman can hold her own. This time she saved me.”
“One more time for the people in the back.” I grin up at him.
But instead, he lowers his voice, dropping his mouth next to my ear. “You’ve saved my life. In every way.”
I grab his cheeks, squishing them because it’s fun, and he looks adorable. “Let’s not make a habit of it.”